ROCKHOPPER Exploration, the North Falkland Basin oil and gas exploration company, has posted a £17m loss according to its latest interim results.
In a statement to the City today the firm, which recently signed a sharing deal to work with Malvern-based Desire Petroleum , said it had a loss before tax of £17.13m compared with £0.97m for the same period in 2009.
Rockhopper said this was “due to the increase in exploration and evaluation costs following the decision to impair the amounts capitalised in respect of the wells drilled on the Liz and Ernest prospects”.
The large loss figure was also reflective of the fact the group had changed its accounting policy, the firm said.
The statement added: “The period under review has been the company’s most operationally active to date.
“The Ocean Guardian drilling rig has been on hire throughout and, with one exception, has been drilling either on the licences that Rockhopper operates or has farmed in to.”
It said the Sea Lion well was spudded in April and declared an oil discovery a month later.
Rockhopper also funded an initial flow test on Sea Lion in June after raising £42.4m and oil was discovered in September.
The statement added that the company had £42.34m of resources available for exploration as of September 30 this year.
Rockhopper chairman Dr Pierre Jungels said: “The successful flow test of Sea Lion is a major step forward for the group and has given us the confidence and momentum to raise the funds required to undertake the work needed to reach a final investment decision on that prospect.
“The recent fundraising enables us to progress both our appraisal of Sea Lion and associated field development planning as well as the ongoing interpretation of a wide area of the basin in order to identify further attractive exploration prospects.”
